Holding that popularity of language was linked with financial might of any country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said that importance of Hindi was set to increase with India marching rapidly towards economic prosperity.
In an address to Indologists, Hindi language students and Indian community members Tashkent, Modi also referred to growing conflicts and said he liked Uzbek President Islam Karimov's view that music could be the best means to stay away from violence.
Talking about ties between India and Uzbekistan, Modi said people-to-people contact was foundation for relations between any countries where language and culture also play important role.
Modi also released the first Uzbek-Hindi dictionary along with his Uzbek counterpart and Indologist Rakhmatov.
"Those (countries) whose economy is strong, wings of their language grow faster as people want to learn their language," the prime minister said.
In this context, he said importance of Hindi language was going to increase as India was on course of economic advancement.
"A language imbibes the feel of the era and tradition through which it travels. Languages have big heart..Language is key to the development of personality," said Modi, elaborating on the beauty of languages.
Noting that Uzbek radio completed 50 years of Hindi broadcasting in 2012, Modi said that Indian movies and music are very popular in Uzbekistan.
"Indian movies, language & music are very popular in Uzbekistan. In 2012, Uzbek radio completed 50 years of Hindi broadcasting," he tweeted.
Prime Minister Modi on Monday held extensive talks with Karimov as the two leaders decided to boost ties in key areas of atomic energy, defence and trade.
Modi and Karimov also discussed ways to enhance strategic, economic and energy ties apart from reviewing key regional issues including the situation in war-torn Afghanistan.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi described Lal Bahadur Shastri as a proud son of India, as he paid glowing tribute to the former premier who died in Tashkent following a heart attack in 1966.
"Paying tributes to the proud son of India, the inspiring Lal Bahadur Shastri ji," Modi tweeted after paying tribute to the second prime minister of India.
Modi paid tribute to him at a bust erected in Shastri's memory.
A prominent figure in the independence movement, Shastri died of a heart attack in Tashkent in 1966 during an official visit at the age of 61.
Shastri had taken over the office of prime minister after Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru's death in 1964.
He is best remembered for his slogan 'Jai Jawan Jai Kisan' which was aimed at encouraging the farmers for a better yield to reduce country's dependence on imported food grains while also to infuse renewed enthusiasm in soldiers fighting the Indo-Pak war of 1965.
"We are thankful to the people of Tashkent and Uzbekistan, for preserving the legacy of our former prime minister," Modi had said on Monday.
Modi, who arrived on Monday on the first leg of his eight-day visit to Central Asia and Russia, also paid tribute at the National Monument of Independence and Humanism.
Image: Prime Minister Narendra pays tributes at the bust of former prime minister Late Shri Lal Bahadur Shastril in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Photograph: MEA/Flickr
